UKRAINE        1

Tsygankov 71 pen.

MALTA           0

UKRAINE

A. Trubin, Y. Konoplia, S. Kryvtsov, I. Zabarnyi, M. Matviyenko (46 V. Mykolenko), A. Yarmolenko (80 S. Sydorchuk),  T. Stepanenko, R. Malinoskyi (63 V. Buyalskiy), G. Sudakov, V. Tsygankov (90 Svatok), V. Vanat (63 A. Dovbyk).

MALTA

H. Bonello (45 M. Grech), J. Borg, S. Borg, Z. Muscat, R. Camenzuli, T. Teuma (87 J. Grech), M. Guillaumier, Y. Yankam, J. Mbong (87 J. Degabriele), K. Nwoko (46 A. Satariano), J. Jones (66 S. Dimech).

Yellow cards: J. Borg, Malinovskiy, Vanat, S. Borg.

Viktor Tysgankov converted a highly-debatable penalty to hand Ukraine a 1-0 win over Malta in a Euro 2024 qualifier in Slovaka, yesterday.

It was a harsh result on Michele Marcolini’s team who showed remarkable improvement from last week’s 4-0 defeat to England at the National Stadium.

Although they were facing another high-quality opponent in Ukraine, the Maltese players showed little fear as they played a very good match which saw them not only defend well for much of the match but always tried to push forward each time they had the opportunity and create several chances.

In fact, the Maltese players must have left the pitch thinking what might have been had Jodi Jones taken his opportunity in the first half when the score was still locked at 0-0 as no doubt it would have changed the course of the match.

Read full story on sport.timesofmalta.com